Recent studies have suggested that the NLRP3 inflammasome plays a pivotal role in the progression of ALI/ARDS caused by various pathogenic microorganisms, such as influenza A virus (Allen et al., 2009), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Cohen and Prince, 2013), and Staphylococcus aureus (Miller et al., 2007). The gene discussed is NLRP3; the disease is acute respiratory distress syndrome.